1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to circuit interrupters generally and, more specifically, to those kinds of circuit interrupters having a trip mechanism with a latch.
2. Description of the Art
Molded case circuit breakers and interrupters are well known in the art as exemplified by U.S. patent No. 4,503,408 issued Mar. 5, 1985, to Mrenna et al., and U.S. patent No. 5,910,760 issued Jun. 8, 1999 to Malingowski, et al., each of which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference.
Circuit interrupters include trip mechanisms that can be activated in a variety of manners so as to set in motion a tripping operation. These trip mechanisms often employ a rotatable trip bar assembly that, when selectively rotated, releases a portion of the operating mechanism to thereby generate a tripping operation. In the normal, non-tripped state of such an interrupter, a rotatable latch is connected between the trip bar assembly and the operating mechanism portion in order to lock the operating mechanism portion in a non-tripped position until the trip bar assembly is rotated.
When the trip bar assembly is rotated in order to initiate a tripping operation, the trip bar assembly becomes disengaged from the latch, enabling the latch to rotate under the influence of the operating mechanism portion. It has been noted that this rotation can leave the latch in an over-rotated position that is non-conducive to a resetting operation. As such, the prior art has provided stops in order to limit the rotation of the latch due to the influence of the operating mechanism portion. Unfortunately, variability in parts can compromise the ability of such a stop to prevent over-rotation. As such, it would be advantageous if a way existed by which to ensure that over-rotation of the latch did not occur.